Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Eighty Three: DRAGON - Mole Hunting and an Invitation
"We're finally caught up to him!" Naru crowed in satisfaction as their transport drove them to one of the numerous railyards in School District 17, where the mole that had been leaking intel to the Catholic Church they had been ordered to hunt had been located. Presumably he was trying to sneak onto a train exiting the City to escape their pursuit.
"Indeed," Rui-chan said with a nod. "It's most impressive of him to evade us for the past few days."
"Well, to be fair, the mole we're hunting was a high ranking official in the City's intelligence services," Mikoto-senpai offered with a shrug. "He knew the ins and outs of the City's various surveillance systems."
"Agreed," Rui-chan agreed, a small pout on her face. "But even then, managing to evade both that and Big Spider aggressively hunting him? Can't deny that's impressive."
"Annoying is what I call it." Naru corrected as the transport began to slow.
"We're here, Jouchans." Kurozuma-san, who was serving as their driver, said via the intercom as the transport fully came to a stop.
"Gotcha, Minion-kun~!" Naru teased as she hopped off her seat and made her way to the opening door of the vehicle, Rui-chan and Mikoto-senpai following behind her.
"Tamezou is waiting to show you where the mole is hiding." Kurozuma-san added as he hopped out of the driver's cab and walked towards them. "I told him we were coming, so he should be here so-"
"Yo Wataru-nii, Trinity-jouchans!" Tamezou-san greeted with a wave as he jogged over. He was a young man with straight brown hair that reached up to his shoulders and sanpaku eyes, or eyes with an overly large portion of the sclera visible below the iris.
"Tamezou-san," Rui-chan greeted the Big Spider lieutenant in charge of the team that had hunted down their target. "Where's the mole?"
If the former Anti-Skill was offended by Rui-chan's bluntness, he didn't show it. He just nodded.
"My guys spotted him hanging around Track 24." Tamezou-san reported. "Do you need us to guide you there? This place is a maze."
"No, it should be fine." Naru assured him. "Right, Rui-chan?"
As the Number 3 nodded, signifying that she knew the layout of the railyard well enough to teleport them to where they needed to go, Mikoto addressed Kurozuma-san and Tamezou-san.
"Just make sure that no civilians wander inside the yard whilst we deal with the mole." She ordered firmly. "Did you evacuate the area?"
Tamezou-san nodded. "We've cleared out the yard's staff. We tried to be as sneaky about it as we could, but I'm pretty sure the mole spotted us doing it anyway. He'll be ready for you ladies."
"Don't worry about it," Naru said with a confident smirk, hands on her hips. "Don't forget we're Level 5s. We can handle it."
Tamezou-san still looked a little worried, but Kurozuma-san put a hand on his shoulder.
"Relax, Tamezou-san. The Jouchans can take care of themselves." The redhead leader of Big Spider said to his subordinate before turning to the Trinity. "Jouchans, we'll keep the area secure. Go catch that mole."
Mikoto-senpai nodded in satisfaction and turned to Naru and Rui-chan expectantly. "Ready?"
Rui-chan just nodded, but Naru was more expressive than that and replied in an eager tone. "And waiting! Take us in."
Rui-chan shot an unimpressed look in Naru's direction. Whilst her bestie could be as bloodthirsty as she was when the mood struck her. She was the infamous [Army Slayer] after all. Most of the time, she was actually quite adverse to things on the Dark Side. So it was natural that she really couldn't appreciate Naru's enthusiasm.
It's not that. She's probably thinking that she'd rather be working on why her Angel Mode seems to be acting weirdly than hunting a mole. Kurama corrected from the depths of Naru's soul where he resided.
Probably, Naru conceded. But orders are orders. And besides, she needs the distraction. She can't focus one hundred percent of her time on the issue with her Angel Mode. It'll drive her mad.
Kurama just replied with a noncommittal hum.
Naru's conversation with Kurama had, due to its telepathic nature and their intimate familiarity with each other, only lasted less than a second. Thus by the time it had concluded, Rui-chan was only just reaching for her and Mikoto-senpai's shoulders. Though once she had made contact, it was mere nanoseconds later before they had teleported into the depths of the railyard.
"Track 24," Senpai declared as she gestured at a sign indicating their location. "Now where exactly around here is that mole hiding."
"Give me a few seconds to pick up his trail." Naru told her overeager senpai as she scanned their surroundings. It consisted of a lone railway track leading to a simple platform equipped with a loading crane akin to those more commonly seen loading and unloading shipping containers at ports and surrounded by towering stacks of said containers.
Naru's senses, both her enhanced mundane senses and her empathy, were still zeroing in on their target when Rui-chan sighed.
"We have company," she announced, sounding thoroughly irritated as she gestured at a streak of animated tiger shaped ink constructs that were stalking out from between the stacked shipping containers and behind the train platform to confront them.
"Don't these things look a lot like those used by those ink using Magicians we fought last time?" Mikoto-senpai commented with a frown as she unleashed a storm of electricity that took out a good chunk of the streak even before they could get into range to pounce at them. Since she got her fancy new generator backpack, Senpai had been a lot more liberal with her electricity. Where in the past, she'd usually start off her fights with smaller electric bursts and only resort to more intense ones or attacks which used up more of her electricity when the need arose, nowadays she seemed content to go for broke from the start in what Naru assumed was a strategy of shock and awe. It was certainly a dazzling display.
"They should. They're the same thing." Naru commented as she used some geokinesis to launch hundreds of the gravel pieces that covered much of the railyard like bullets at the lead tigers, reducing them to puddles of ink.
"Wait, how does that work? Is this mole guy one of those Magicians?"
"According to his data in the Bank that was included in the report about him that my intelligence team wrote out for us when we were tasked to hunt him down, he's a Magician whose magic allows him to use some spells from other schools." Rui-chan said as she shot Mikoto-senpai a questioning frown. "Senpai, didn't you read the report?"
Seriously! Senpai didn't read the report on the mole!? Naru couldn't help but think as she shot the [Railgun] a chiding look.
"Uh, sorry? I was kinda busy familiarizing myself with my new generator." Senpai said sheepishly even as Ruiko finished off the last of the tigers with a barrage of particle beams.
As expected however the tigers were hardly the only thing that their target had sent to waylay them and with their defeat, a giant humanoid ink construct wearing the earthen knight armor of what was recognizably Esther Rosenthal's Armor of the Dead spell stomped its way out from between a passageway between the shipping containers.
"Geez, Senpai. Rule one! Always read the target report, no matter how dry the report is!" Naru chided with a stern finger wag.
"Like I said, I'm sorry." Senpai whined even as she shot an experimental lightning bolt at the armored giant only for the Armor of the Dead to ground the attack, making it ineffectual.
"That's Rosenthal-san's spell, right?" Mikoto-senpai asked with a frown. "What can't this guy copy? Is there some kind of limit to this guy? I mean, he can't just copy any spell willy nilly, right?'
"You'd know this if you read the report." Naru reminded her senpai even as she used a wind blast to deflect a shipping container that the giant had picked up and tossed at them. "He can cast anything so long as it isn't a spell directly connected to being a Saint or its equivalents; or are part of a distinct fighting spell; or requires special mediums like Rosenthal Artificial Souls, Djinn, channeling gods, mythical beasts, etc. Well, at least so long as he knows about it anyway."
"And he was a member of the City's intelligence services? With access to the Bank?" Senpai asked as she used iron sand bullets to blow apart the latest shipping container the giant threw at them.
"Yeah, which means he had access to plenty of spells from all the Magicians that got into the City or who the higher ups went out of their way to get data on." Naru confirmed with a shrug as she shot a fireball at the giant which just tanked the shot with its Armor of the Dead.
Esther-chan's spell is stronger than I thought. I guess she didn't have a good chance to show it off, huh?
Either that or the mole is just better at using it than the Necromancer was.
Maybe, but I think it's only fair to give Esther-chan the benefit of the doubt. She is a friend after all.
Fair enough. By the way, Saten has frozen up again.
Yeah, I noticed. Naru informed her partner. It had not escaped her notice that for the last few seconds her bestie had been imitating a statue. Think we should try to snap her out of it?
Only if it causes her or the rest of us to be in danger. She doesn't want to draw attention to her blackouts. We should respect that.
Okay. Naru replied unhappily. She was worried about her bestie and wanted to act on it damnit! But Kurama was right. Rui-chan knew the problem existed already and repeatedly bringing it up would just upset her. And that was the last thing Naru wanted to do, what with Rui-chan being as stressed about the whole thing already.
"Let me handle the giant," Rui-chan said with a sigh, snapping out of her fugue. "Naru-chan, focus on zeroing in on where the mole is hiding."
"Gotcha, Rui-chan." "Thanks, Ruiko." Naru and Mikoto-senpai chirped whilst Rui-chan just raised an open hand in the direction of the ink giant that she promptly clenched into a tight fist, an action that was emulated by the telepathic grip she'd caught the construct in. The end result was the giant being crushed like a tin can between a hydraulic press and leaving it as nothing more than a puddle of ink and shattered earthen fragments of its armor.
As it did, Naru finally got around whatever spells the target was using to hide his location and got a fix.
"Hm~" Naru hummed as her lips formed into a sharp and dangerous smile.
"Found you~" She cooed as her eyes turned to slits.
Without waiting for Rui-chan or Mikoto-senpai to respond, the blonde broke into a run towards her prey, like a predator on the hunt. Behind her, her trusty teammates followed. Senpai in an eager sprint and Rui-chan by telepathically floating after them at a sedate pace.
Naru led the Trinity into one of the numerous passageways between the stacks of shipping containers that made up much of the railyard.
"Konishi Hidetoshi-san. You've been a very bad man." She said, announcing their presence.
The man turned at the sound of her chiding and Naru had to admit, if she wasn't attracted to girls, she'd have lusted over him. As it was, she was able to admit he was very handsome.
He was a tanned-skinned man with white, practically silver, hair and dark ageless golden eyes. And despite being on the run was still dressed in a frankly impractical archaic suit that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Victorian era with only a pair of riding boots serving as a compromise to his circumstances.
"You're a real piece of work you know? Selling secrets from the various magical cabals you've previously been a part of to get a job here then using that job to get intel to sell to the Church? That's downright dastardly, a sin even! But I'm feeling generous. If you come quietly, I only promise to tear you limb from limb." The Number 2 promised with a smile that promised blood and salt added to the wounds.
That slasher smile of yours never gets old. Kurama remarked.
Aw, thanks buddy!
"She's in rare form." Senpai muttered as she came to a stop on Naru's left.
"Agreed." Rui-chan said with a nod as she landed to the Number 2's right. "Though I disagree with you on what's impressive about him, Naru-chan. His repeated betrayal of his employers for his own betterment is to be expected of a snake of a spy like him. No, what is impressive is how he managed to evade our hunt for as long as he did."
She has a point.
"I guess," Naru conceded unhappily. "But his luck has run out. It's time to pay your debts, Konishi."
"All three? How downright unsporting." The smarmy tone took points away from his handsomeness. Pity.
"That just goes to show how much your betrayal has pissed off the higher ups." Senpai said with a shrug. "So if you know what's good for you, you'll surrender. You'll get a lighter punishment that way."
"How naive. Death is the only punishment on offer." Konishi scoffed as he began rolling up his sleeves, revealing a pair of tattoos on his forearms in the process. Tattoos that Naru knew to be his Idols, the Left Hand - Xanadu Matrix and the Right Hand - Evil Eater.
"Maybe," Rui-chan allowed. "But it would be the difference between a painful or a relatively painless death. And there are fates worse than death as well. Do you want them to be put on the table? I assure you, they might be if you resist."
"I do not fear death or any other terrible punishment you and your masters might impose on me, Trinity." Konishi said defiantly as the tattoo on his left hand was surrounded by blue flames and the one of his right was surrounded by black and red flames. "For whatever happens to this frail mortal vessel, I know that on the day of Judgment, I will be exalted for my actions in the name of the Church."
"Whelp! He's not going to comply. The hard way it is."
"Don't sound too broken up about it, you hellion." Senpai sighed. She was really doing that a lot since the Trinity was made official.
"Senpai, you can scold Naru-chan for her excessive bloodthirstiness later. Deal with the mole first." Rui-chan said with a sigh as she conjured a multilayered barrier that blocked the rocks that he'd pulled out of the ground using a spell Naru recognized as being from Mallybath Blackball's spellbook and then shot at them with a wind spell out of Jane Elves' repertoire.
"Rui-chan's right, Senpai. I'll cut off his escape route. Senpai, you handle offense. Rui-chan, we'll leave defense to you." Naru ordered as she teleported to the other side of the passageway they were fighting in, cutting off Konishi's best chance of getting away.
"Who made you our leader!?" Senpai shouted irritably even as she shot a lightning bolt at Konishi that the man literally ran into, letting the half formed Armor of the Dead that he'd cast on himself protect him.
"She is the Magician hunting specialist." Rui-chan said with a smirk even as she used some telekinesis, at least that's what Naru guessed it was, to have the gravel in the path of Konishi's charge shoot at him.
Amazingly, the Magician somehow still managed to dodge the surprise attack.
"Don't get all logical on me now, Ruiko!" Mikoto-senpai shot back. "And how the hell did he dodge that!?"
"You really should've read the report on him." Rui-chan scolded their senpai. "His Idol, Right Hand - Evil Eater gives him limited precognition. He can use it to see five seconds into the future."
"I said I was sorry!" Senpai whined even as Konishi tried to use her and Rui-chan's seeming distraction to close with them whilst using a spell from Stiyl Magnus to conjure a sword made of flames in his right hand.
"Less sorry, more Biri-Biri!" Naru couldn't help but jest, as she used her geokinesis to create a whole bunch of spikes around Konishi to try and force him to abort his attack.
The Magician's dumb precognition gave him the warning he needed to not only evade her spikes but also use them as stepping stones to close the distance between himself and her teammates faster, as he used them as ramps to pick up speed and points from which to leap off. Thus in a honestly impressive display of parkour he closed the final few feet between himself and the two Level 5s.
"You underestimated me too much, Trinity." Konishi said with a smirk as he used his flame sword to decapitate Rui-chan and Mikoto-senpai.
Or seemed to at least.
He was still gloating at his seeming victory when a particle beam slammed into him, stripping the Armor of the Dead off his body and sending him flying back in Naru's direction. And more importantly into a massive lightning bolt that slammed down from the otherwise clear sky.
"Y-You used Trick Art to c-create illusions and used them to deceive m-me?" A charred and smoking Konishi gasped, as he struggled to push his twitching body back to his feet. "T-To push that particular Esper ability beyond its previous limits like that… You truly are the [AIM Sovereign], Saten-san."
"Nah, we just wanted to have a conversation. You were that boring." Mikoto-senpai said with a shrug as the illusion that Rui-chan created to keep their exact location hidden fell away. "By the way, Ruiko, Naru, he has regeneration too?"
"Yes," Rui-chan said in understandable exasperation even as they watched the Magician's injuries heal before their eyes. "His Left Hand - Xanadu Matrix grants it to him as a passive ability."
"Too bad your precognition is an activated one and is so draining to use, huh, Konishi? If it wasn't and you didn't shut it down after you'd thought you'd scored a win, you wouldn't have gotten roasted." Naru taunted as she tossed a brace of vacuum blades at the Magician that he danced around, presumably with the aid of his future sight.
"I-I can still fight!" He gasped out in pain, likely from his raw, burnt skin stinging from contact with the air. He might have regeneration too, but it was obvious it was a much inferior version to Naru's own. If she'd received the same kinda injuries, she'd already be fully healed by now.
"To what effect?" Rui-chan asked reasonably as Mikoto-senpai rained down lightning bolts from the sky to make Konishi's life even more difficult. "You know you can't beat us. And you know we'll take you in alive like the Board wants. Why make this more difficult on yourself?"
"Fo-For the Holy Church! I will happ-happily suffer any indignity!"
Naru and her teammates all shook their heads at his declaration.
Fanatics are such a pain to deal with. Naru thought. One she and the rest of the Trinity surely shared.
"Oh, just give up already." Mikoto said, exasperated by the apparent fanatic, before adding irritably under her breath. "I hate dealing with idiots like you who don't know when to give up."
"No, not yet!" The Magician said as he continued to dance around the lightning and wind blades that she and Naru were tossing at him in near impossible to dodge clusters. Magic was so bullshit. "I will fight to my last breath!"
"That is admirable, Konishi-san, but pointless." Ruiko said with a tired sounding sigh. "Yet, if you are determined, use your final trump card and be done with it. We've wasted enough time on you already. We have schedules to keep after all."
If Konishi was insulted, he didn't show it. Instead, he seemed to be pleased by the fact that he seemed to have gotten under Ruiko's skin.
"If you insist, oh mighty [Army Slayer]!" He taunted, causing Ruiko to frown and glare at him angrily, even as he leapt out of the elemental storm that surrounded him and raised both his arms in front of him. "Twin Arm - Big Crunch: Dual Arm - Zero-Order Convergence!"
At his invocation, the two sets of flames that enshrouded his arms burst into large fireballs that consumed his limbs entirely and shot forward from the bleeding stumps they left in their wake, the unnatural flames having failed to cauterize the wounds they had created, before combining into a single pitch black fireball that rapidly began imploding.
"What's it doing?" Mikoto couldn't help but ask as the fireball finished collapsing into itself and began rapidly expanding as a pitch black sphere.
"Shit! Is that a Dungeons and Dragons style Sphere of Annihilation? His Bank data never said he could create something like this!" Naru hissed in shock as she used geokinesis to pull out large chunks of earth to try and smother the black sphere only for the rock to be obliterated, reduced into nothingness, upon contact.
"Move! Move!" Naru shouted as she teleported to Mikoto and Ruiko's side and the dangerous sphere neared their location. Arms wrapped around her and Mikoto felt herself be teleported away in short multiple jumps.
But there was one massive problem…
"Naru! Wait! Ruiko!"
"What about Ruiko?"
"She's still there!" Mikoto shouted pointing back in the direction they'd come.
Sure enough, Ruiko was still standing there right in the path of the sphere of destruction. For a terrified second, Mikoto worried that she'd had another of her blackouts and hadn't teleported away in time. However, as her friend was suddenly enshrouded in an aura of prismatic light, her worries abated somewhat. They faded entirely when the halo and rainbow feathered wings of her Angel Mode appeared.
"What?! But I grabbed her! How-" Naru began only to change her tune as she looked in Ruiko's direction.
"Rui-chan, you moron!" Their little blonde exclaimed, fury on her face.
It was unwarranted though, because it seemed like Ruiko knew perfectly well what she was doing. As fully transformed into her Angel Mode, she simply reached over and almost daintily touched the black sphere.
"Bv tlmv! (Be gone!)" The angelic looking girl said in a voice that rang with authority.
Mikoto had no idea what in the world Ruiko said, but whatever it was it had quite the effect as the black sphere which had disintegrated everything else it touched promptly popped out of existence as if it was nothing more than a soap bubble.
And in its wake, a reverent silence took over the area.
T-That… I think I just witnessed real power. Mikoto thought as a shiver of fear ran down her spine.
For a moment after Rui-chan had dispelled the Sphere of Annihilation, Naru, just like everyone else there, had stood frozen at what her bestie had done. Not so much at the feat itself, at least not for Naru, but how she'd done it. Because Naru knew Rui-chan's shift to Angel Mode must have been involuntary.
She'd promised to not use her Angel Mode until they figured out what was going on with it and the [AIM Sovereign] was as famous for keeping her promises as she was infamous for holding grudges. And the way that Rui-chan's wings and halo abruptly disappeared and she stumbled over to a shipping container and pressed herself against it to keep standing was proof enough for Naru. Her friend was obsessed with upholding the aesthetic of being the ojou-sama that she was and would never willingly do anything that would leave her behaving in such an undignified way.
"Rui-chan!" Naru cried out, teleporting a few feet away from the brunette before proceeding to tackle hug her. They fell to the ground, the two first year middle schoolers tumbling until the blonde straddled her friend. Tears welled up in Naru's eyes as she started to pound her fists into the taller girl's dumb big chest. "You idiot! Moron! Dummy! When I teleport, you don't shrug it off! D-Do you know how scared I was!?"
She all but screamed out, distraught and with fear written on her face.
"Y-You made a promise! You said- you said-!" The blonde blathered on, shaken that she could have just lost her best friend to some reckless hairbrained idea!
Naru, I don't think she had a choice in it. Kurama said with a thoughtful frown, trying to cut off Naru's scolding before she could get started. And really, I don't actually think she used her Angel Mode so much as made it obvious that she was.
What the heck is that supposed to mean?
Simply that outside of the change in appearance, that unlike when she's used it in the past, this time there doesn't feel like there is a difference at all between before and after she activated it.
Are you saying that…
I didn't notice it till she actually changed her appearance, but, yes, even now the Saten girl is in her Angel Mode. She probably has been ever since she unlocked this new iteration of it.
"I-I was-" Naru sniffled more, mouth flapping uselessly as she threw her arms around the other girl and sobbed in relief. "I'm so glad! If something happened to you, I don't- I-I need my friend!"
"Ruiko! You alright?" Mikoto-senpai shouted worriedly as using some electromagnetic assisted gymnastics she leapt down from atop one of the stacks of shipping containers to land next to Naru and Ruiko.
"Naru-chan, Mikoto-senpai, I'm fine." Rui-chan assured them. "Though, Naru-chan, could you please get off me? You're heavy."
"Not yet." Naru insisted as she buried her face into bestie's chest, shaking her head. She felt Ruiko sigh against her hair.
Kurama, does Rui-chan being in her Angel Mode now hurt her? How about what she did to the Sphere of Annihilation? Will it affect her long-term?
I have no idea about the former. I don't know anywhere near enough about her Angel Mode. But if it's anything like a Jinchūriki's transformations like your Demon Frames then it might. A Jinchūriki staying transformed for too long will burn out their body.
Then…
Don't panic! Kurama shouted, stifling Naru's building anxiety. Like I said, I don't know enough about Saten's Angel Mode to make an accurate assessment. I am just comparing it to the closest thing I know. And considering how she's maintained it longer than any Jinchūriki transformation I've ever heard of… I think we shouldn't worry too much. At least until we know more.
"Come on, Usagi. We can group hug with ice cream later." Senpai softly told her as she pried her off Ruiko with her hands.
"U-Un." Naru nodded, wiping her eyes as she was pulled up.
Okay. Then what about how she negated the Sphere of Annihilation? Should we worry about that?
On that front, I can definitively say the answer is no. She was just exercising her Authority when she was doing that.
Like Kazakiri-san did during the Invasion Incident? I mean they are both AIM Angels, right? So it would only make sense that they would use similar powers.
Yes, they both use Authorities, but different ones.
What do you mean?
It's hard to put into words but I'll try, if only because I know you'll needlessly worry if I didn't tell you everything I know.
Please…
Okay, okay. Here goes. If I had to describe it, I'd say that Kazakiri's Authority felt like she was imposing a claim on the area around her, making it into a place within which nothing but what she allowed would be able to exist. In contrast, Saten's Authority instead feels like she's banishing the very concept behind things and making them disappear from existence.
So, similar on the surface, but fundamentally different. Naru observed with a thoughtful hum of her own.
Exactly. Just like I said earlier.
Whilst Naru and Kurama were discussing her, Rui-chan was shakily pushing herself back to her feet, shooting the blonde a look of exasperated fondness all the while. Her unsteadiness prompted Mikoto-senpai to rush over and help her, which earned the older girl a grateful smile.
"You try not to be disoriented after Naru-chan bowls you over like that, Senpai." Rui-chan said at the questioning look that Mikoto-senpai shot her.
Their senpai looked unconvinced, and Naru was right there with her, and was about to confront Rui-chan about it when mad laughter from behind them informed them that their target had survived his own final attack as well. Turning as one, they saw Konishi sitting at the base of one of the shipping containers and laughing like a mad man.
"What's so funny, traitor?" Naru hissed at the man, annoyed that he'd interrupted their moment. Fingers cracking as chakra blades extended from her fingertips.
"Oh, nothing." The Magician said, seemingly unperturbed that he was bleeding out from the severed stumps of his arms. Without his Idols, that he'd sacrificed to cast his trump card, it seemed like he'd lost his regeneration. "Just awed by the revelation that it seems that the Number 3 has become a being like DRAGON, though by the way she seems to not really have control of her power perhaps she is not as stable as it is."
"Naru-chan, would you mind? The Board wants him alive. We shouldn't let him die from blood loss."
Naru growled at the reminder from her bestie. Her bestie was undergoing some kinda crisis here and she was forced to worry about what the assholes, Oyafune-sama excepted, on the Board wanted!? That was just ridiculous!
Naru!
Fine~! Naru conceded, shooting a burst of flames at Konishi that cauterized his wounds. Painfully.
The pain from the flames was the last straw for the Magician and he finally fell unconscious. Not that Naru cared about him, the moment she was sure he wasn't about to die on them, she turned her attention back to Rui-chan. Only to find her bestie was all business.
"Mikoto-senpai, could you contact Big Spider and let them know to come pick him up?"
Senpai frowned, clearly wondering why Rui-chan couldn't do it herself.
"Sure," Senpai allowed despite her reservations, fishing out her phone. "Just give me a minute."
Whilst she did, Rui-chan gazed at Konishi with a frown. "Think we can wake him up, Naru-chan?"
"Why?"
"He mentioned DRAGON." Rui-chan said as she began walking towards the unconscious man, Naru falling into step beside her. "All my leads on my condition lead to one place: DRAGON. If he knows anything about who or what it is, I would like to know."
"You can't use telepathy on him?"
"No, whatever he uses to defend against it is still active."
Naru nodded and, using some electricity, shocked Konishi back into consciousness.
The man sputtered incoherently, looking confused for a moment, before he gathered his wits and looked at them, speaking up before either of them could.
"I imagine you want to know about DRAGON?"
Naru frowned but Rui-chan just nodded.
"What's that?" Mikoto-senpai asked as she joined them.
"A being just like your friend has become, [Railgun]." Konishi said, looking smug. "Not that I can tell you more."
"And why is that?" Naru pressed, prompting the man to stick out his tongue to reveal a tattoo on the organ.
"Ew. What's that?" Senpai said with a grossed out shiver.
"A magical seal that prevents those it is applied to from speaking on specific topics. If they attempt to do so, the seal will kill them and for added security, fry their brain." Rui-chan said with a frown. "For the City to resort to magic to keep it secret, whatever DRAGON is must be important."
"You are really annoyingly prepared to die for your secrets, huh?" Naru pouted in agitation.
Konishi shrugged. "Like the Number 3 said, the City put this seal on me."
"But the City hates magic…"
Konishi just smiled at Mikoto-senpai making his point for him.
"Exactly." The blonde noted with a frown. "The City's entire point is to duplicate the powers of magic through the power of Science. It sees magic as an affront to the natural order of the world. So that they'd use something they regard as anathema to keep this DRAGON thing secret-
"It's gotta be super classified."
"Yes, it is, Mikoto-senpai." Rui-chan confirmed with a worrying frown. "It is so secret that lesser Dark Side outfits were wiped out by the City for just learning that it existed."
A revelation that Konishi corroborated by nodding and something that had both Naru and Mikoto-senpai wincing.
"Which is why we shouldn't discuss it out here." Rui-chan said, gesturing around them. "We can wait till we get back to base where it's secure. Konishi's pick up is here anyway."
A group of Big Spider agents led by Kurozuma-san and Tamezou-san were indeed almost where they were.
"Right," Naru nodded in acceptance.
"Okay, but you better tell us everything you know once we're back at base. Got it, Ruiko? No hiding secrets like you always do."
"I promise, Senpai."
"We'll hold you to that." Naru said as she hooked an arm with one of Rui-chan's. "But in the meantime, let's head back to the transport. I think it's time we headed home."
"I couldn't agree more." Senpai chimed in.
"Yes, let's return to base." Rui-chan added as the three of them strolled towards their incoming subordinates to handover their prisoner so they could end their mission.
It had been a long day and all Naru wanted was to take a break. A sentiment she was sure her teammates shared.
Ruiko and her friends were riding their transport back to their base when suddenly their phones chimed with the alert for a newly arrived message.
"Huh? Wonder what's that about?" Naru-chan mused as she and Mikoto-senpai fished out their phones to see what that was about.
On Ruiko's part, she used some emulated electromastery to remotely manipulate her phone and read the message, finding that it was a notification from the Board of Directors to all Dark Side organizations.
Hmm… Ruiko thought as she read the notification's contents
"Vento of the Front was broken out of prison!?" Naru-chan shouted in indignation as she finished reading the report. "After all the effort I went to catch her, they just let her get away so easily!? What are the damned Directors doing!?"
"Didn't you get some help from Kamijou-san to catch her?" Mikoto-senpai reminded their blonde teammate teasingly.
"A little bit," Naru-chan admitted reluctantly. "But that just makes it worse! Two of the City's biggest hitters put in so much trouble to take her down and they just let her escape so easily!? Unbelievable!"
"Believe it." Ruiko countered with a shrug. "She was rescued by Acqua of the Back, a fellow member of God's Right Seat. One, who if his Bank profile is accurate, is considered to be more powerful than she was. I doubt any detainment facility the City has would be secure against him."
"He's that strong?" Mikoto-senpai asked, sounding surprised.
"According to the data on him, yeah. And Rui-chan, you're probably right." Naru-chan said with a resigned sigh. "But I'm sure we could take him if we were there."
"Naru, are you suggesting-"
"That Konishi-san was acting as a distraction so we couldn't interfere with Acqua's rescue of Vento? Yes, Mikoto-senpai, I think that's exactly what happened." Ruiko concluded with a sigh. "They played us."
"We can't be the only heavy hitters capable of stopping him, right?" Mikoto-senpai asked with a frown.
"No, the City has other more esoteric resources in reserve that might've managed it." Naru-chan explained. "But they're held in reserve for a reason. Breaking them out for a jailbreak, even one of someone as high profile as Vento would tip our hand. And of the Level 5 teams, aka the resources the City can realistically use in this situation, we're the only one strong enough."
Ruiko nodded at Naru-chan's assessment of things, prompting Mikoto-senpai to blink in surprise. She'd clearly forgotten, again, just how high up on the City's totem pole they were.
"Damn! I was really hoping we wouldn't have to deal with Vento again. She was a pain to fight the first time." Naru-chan whined.
"It shouldn't be as bad if we do," Ruiko comforted. "Vento lost the Idol that allowed her to use Divine Punishment, and you know that those can't just be replaced willy nilly, which means her biggest weapon is off the table. She's not as much of a threat anymore. At least until she gets a replacement Idol if that's even possible."
"That's something I guess, but that's not the biggest reason why I found fighting her a pain. She's a sneaky fighter."
"Like me?" Ruiko asked with a mischievous smile, whilst pointing at herself.
"She's not as bad as when you amp things up to eleven, but yeah, she's in the same vein."
"Seriously? She's that bad?" Mikoto-senpai asked with a wince. "The AAR (after action report) of the fight didn't make her seem that bad."
"That's why I said she wasn't as bad as Rui-chan."
Senpai breathed a sigh of relief at that, much to Ruiko's amusement.
"Jouchans, we're here. Just give me a moment to park, alright?" Kurozuma-san said over the radio as their transport slowed down as they arrived at their base, formerly belonging solely to Maniple.
They all replied to him in the affirmative, after which Mikoto-senpai turned to her sharply.
"Alright, Ruiko, we should be secure enough here." Senpai said sternly as they began making for the opening door to the transport. "Tell us about what you've learnt about your Angel Mode and why it's suddenly so unstable."
Ruiko took a second to check with her own emulated sensory powers if they were secure or not and only after they came back with responses that left her satisfied did she nod at her waiting Senpai and the equally expectant Naru-chan.
"First things first, I need to set the context here and say that I approached the question by investigating what my Angel Mode and Hyouka are in the first place. I suspect that they aren't just AIM constructs."
"Sooo… any progress?" Naru-chan asked inquisitively, her overabundant energy as always only barely contained in her petite frame.
"Not much." Ruiko said as she worried at her bottom lip in annoyance. "All I've discovered is that anything related to AIM Angels is classified under a project codenamed DRAGON. And DRAGON seems to be locked under the highest level of classification security I've ever seen. Even Level 6 Shift had less security."
Her blonde friend frowned, which was concerning. As the personal knife to the Superintendent, her friend usually had a finger on the pulse of the bigger stuff he carried out. Then again, that bastard probably kept plenty of projects away from her eyes. He never trusted anyone. Not even Naru-chan, who he'd essentially raised from the cradle. Especially not now that she was formally part of the Trinity, an autonomous outfit of its own.
Ruiko felt indignant for her best friend. She would have to work on a deal where she wasn't at that bastard's beck and call somehow. She'd just need to get some kind of leverage to use against the test tube man. The question was how to acquire such…
But that was a question for another time. One for when she wasn't facing a crisis of her own.
"Nope, I don't think I've ever heard of a project like that. Though with the naming classification system he loves to use, that's big since dragons are rather symbolic." Naru-chan said with a frown. "So you found out anything useful about whatever this DRAGON is?"
Ruiko was about to reply but just as she was about to, Kurozuma-san, who had just finished hauling Konishi out of the holding cell at the back of the transport alongside a couple of Big Spider agents and handing him over to Ylva-san and her waiting squad of Maniple troopers, came over. He was probably about to report on that when he perked up.
"Did you say DRAGON, Blond Jouchan?" The leader of Big Spider asked instead, blinking in surprise.
"Yeah- Huh? What about it, Kurozuma-san?"
"Well, it's just that, it's quite the coincidence is all. 'Cos when I was handing over the mole guy, Ylva-san handed me a priority letter for the Stoic Jouchan that got delivered by a Dark Side courier whilst we were out dealing with him."
"For me?" Ruiko asked in surprise as she held out a hand for the letter even as Naru-chan and Mikoto-senpai exchanged a suspicious look.
"Okay, DRAGON is either a person or a group. I don't like this at all." Naru-chan said, eyes narrowed and looking serious as could be.
It was unnerving. As soon as they started searching for information on the project, it contacted her? It was incredibly suspicious.
Naru-chan and Senpai exchanged another wary look. A feeling that Ruiko shared.
It was why she scanned the letter with the full suite of her emulated sensory powers and only when she was sure it was safe did she open it.
"My investigations must have prompted whoever or whatever DRAGON is to reach out to me." Ruko concluded and read the letter's contents. "Considering most people who had investigated it have just outright disappeared, I'd count this as a win."
Mikoto-senpai hissed in alarm at her revelation of just how dangerous researching DRAGON was. Naru-chan meanwhile shot her a chiding glare.
"And you did it anyway!?" Her blonde best friend scolded.
Ruiko shrugged, keeping her cool at the situation on hand. "It's the only real lead we have. Besides, it seems to have panned out."
"What do you mean by it 'panned out'?" Senpai asked with a big frown, hands on her hips.
"I just received an invitation from DRAGON itself."
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
Here it is, the start of something BIG. Even bigger than Level 6 Shift. We are marching into deep territory with DRAGON. It's the court of the angels and we get to see what happens next. Super excited for this, it's a big moment for the Trinity to get this deep into the core conspiracies and Incidents of the series. This will blow their minds.
Nameless: Just to clarify things that would otherwise be explained later in the story for those who might be too impatient and drop review/comments/PMs accusing us of plotholes, this DRAGON arc isn't the canon one. It precedes the Battle Royale arc for one. And more importantly, the canon DRAGON arc will still take place after the events of this one at the same point, relative to other events unless otherwise stated, as per canon. (Tl;dr the canon DRAGON arc still happens, this doesn't replace it.) It's just the Trinity's encounter with DRAGON and everything that leads up to it. We just decided to reuse the name since they are essentially the same thing, just about a different set of characters.
The fight was honestly a lot of fun. FGO has a lot of religious figures to use for a fight and they make great expies! Especially that damn priest that needs a kick to the dick.
Nameless: Indeed. If you're wondering why we chose Amakusa Shirou Tokisada as our expy this time. It's simple. He's a Japanese Catholic who was famous for both being a religious fanatic, though this is a little overblown since he was likely using his faith as an excuse/just cause, and a rebel. Fits nicely with the role of a mole within Academy City, no? Or at least, he was the first person to come to mind when we thought about who we could base the mole of. By the way, we might've mentioned somewhere that we didn't plan to cover the mole's capture… Well, we changed our mind. XP
On another note, I received a PM asking if I'm Dock872210 on AO3. To clear things up, yes. My handle on AO3 is Dock872210 and Nameless2210 on FFN. And E4E is Engineer4Ever on FFN and has taken over the NamelessEngine account we originally created as a joint account after I made my own account. Hope this clarifies.
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!